ÎÞÂëרÇø

Despite the dreary weather and harrowing Michigan cold, Nova Racing’s performance at the Formula SAE competition at Michigan International Speedway in May was an exciting success. Each year, the participating teams are challenged to build a race car from scratch. The car is then put through a series of rigorous tests and examinations, culminating in an endurance race where the vehicle must do a certain number of laps around a section of the racetrack. This year the Nova Racing car, VUX, placed 17^th overall, its best result to date (in 2015, VU07 placed 18^th).

Nothing can quite describe the feeling of watching our car compete in and finish the endurance race, one that many cars each year are unable to finish. We are exceedingly proud of our statistics (we placed in the top 10 in the Acceleration event for the third year in a row, 17^th in the design event, 22^nd in Skidpad, and, thanks to our rising business team, 22^nd in the Business presentation), but watching the endurance race was one of the moments I will remember best. As we all sat in the back of a pickup truck with a tent pitched over it to keep us out of the rain, the stress of the previous days melted away, and the entire team cheered and hollered as VUX came around the track. At that moment, the numbers didn’t matter so much as the fact that we had made it, and our car was zipping around the track in its bright ÎÞÂëרÇø colors. Although the journey was long and often difficult, the Nova Racing team was succeeding in Michigan, and none of us could have been prouder.